Contemplation
by Feilyn
Summary: It's Naruto's eighteenth birthday, and the only one he's ever looked forward to. Sasuke's back and moderately sane and while it's been bad before and will be again, for now it's just...good.


It was Naruto's eighteenth birthday and the only one he'd ever looked forward to

_Another mission insane promptfic. This one was _I've Never Felt Like This Before. _Or, uh, something. It's number five outta 200 anyway, and I really like it._

_Hope you do too._

xXx

It was Naruto's eighteenth birthday.

So far the day had been pretty damn good, with people popping in and out of the house he shared with Sakura and Sasuke. Although the teme hadn't yet risen from the dead (he made a point of not getting up before ten most days, and this was not most days), Naruto was holding his widest smile in reserve.

He was chatting to Sakura over a bowl full of birthday ramen when the conversation had turned to his other birthdays, and Naruto had admitted that this one was the only one he'd ever looked forward to. She had seemed to find something terribly wrong with that and proceeded to go through each and every birthday with him, trying to find another one he'd managed to drum up even the slightest bit of enthusiasm for. Naruto, because he was a good guy and really had no idea what was going on, humoured her.

"Uh…well…first, second and third I don't even remember, y'know? Cos kids that young generally _don't. _I think I sort of knew something was going on when I turned four cos the Sandaime brought me a gift, but I wasn't expecting that and he didn't make it the next year so I didn't look forward to it the year after. And pretty much all of the villagers hated me and I had no one to celebrate with until I turned twelve. I guess I sort of looked forward to my thirteenth after the whole thing with Haku, but then…then the teme left and there wasn't really much to look forward – Sakura-chan? You alright there?"

Sakura, for some reason, looked like she was about to cry except that Sakura didn't cry anymore. At least, not every other week like it used to be. Maybe every other _month, _every three if it had been a good year. And it _had_ been a good year, what with Sasuke being declared fit for normal society and all (well, as normal as ninja got) and seeing as Sakura had cried last month about something or other, it just made no sense. At least, that's what Naruto thought.

"E-eh?" She waved her hands in front of her face like Naruto did when he said something stupid. Except that Sakura didn't say stupid things. Well, not often. "No, no, it's fine. So those birthdays all kind of…"

"Sucked?" Naruto supplied brightly.

"…Yeah. But keep going!" A flash of determination chased away that teary look. "We'll find a happy birthday for you yet!"

Naruto frowned. "But that's what this one's for."

"Another one!"

"I dunno, Sakura-chan, one's really good enough for me. But if you really want me to keep going through them…" He trailed off, thinking. "Well, my fourteenth birthday I was training and same with my fifteenth. I don't think I even noticed them. My sixteenth we were still running after Sasuke and even when we had him back on my seventeenth…well, it kinda sucked then, what with him being blind and crazy. Least now he's blind and…uh…" Now that he thought on it, sane wasn't really a word you could use to describe Sasuke, despite the fact that he was fit for society. Then again, sane wasn't a word you could use to describe _any_ ninja, so that was all right.

Sakura was staring at him in horror. "There's nothing happy there at all! You even _forgot_ your birthday! Twice!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, confused. Sasuke hadn't really found it that strange, but Sasuke hadn't had too many good birthdays himself.

And then it hit him. Sakura was _Sakura._ She was always happy! Except when she was crying. Whatever. But she grew up with her parents and Ino and lots of other people to celebrate with. Of course she didn't get it.

He started to laugh.

"Are you insane? What's funny about this? I – You've _never_ looked forward to a birthday before! Never known what it's like to not be able to sleep because you're so excited—"

"Hey, no, I know what that one's like!" Naruto protested.

"But not for your _birthday!_"

"So? I mean, what's the big deal? I bet there's plenty of people around who don't celebrate their birthday. The teme, for one."

"Yes – but—" Sakura was spluttering now and that was just _weird_. Sakura never spluttered. Well, not often, at least.

Actually, now that he thought about it…

"Sakura. Does it really matter?"

Naruto felt that wide grin break out across his face at the sound of a voice that chilled most people to the bone and had little children scream for their parents. If they had parents, at least. Then again, Sasuke didn't usually use that voice around the kids who didn't have parents. Unless that kid was Naruto. But Naruto was eighteen today so—

So he was confusing himself. As usual.

"Sasuke! Of course it matters!" Sakura exclaimed. She was waving her hands wide now, in the way that meant it was probably a good idea to get _out_ of the way. Naruto made ready to dive under the table before remembering Sasuke's presence.

"Teme! You took your time!"

Sasuke turned slowly and delivered his finest death glare, the one he saved for Naruto only (now that Itachi was dead, at least). The fact that the Uchiha couldn't see didn't affect the glare in the slightest, and Naruto started to seriously reconsider that table diving thing.

"It's before twelve, isn't it?" Sasuke replied flatly.

"Aw, you do care!" the blond exclaimed, leaping at his housemate instead of under the table.

"Get off me."

"Never!" He was eighteen, but that didn't mean he had matured any.

Sasuke stood still and waited for Sakura to peel Naruto off of him. He didn't return the hug, but he also didn't throw the blond off as he was fully capable of doing. As a result of this, Naruto's wide grin stretched even further. He bounced up and down on his toes.

"Teme, whadija get me, huh? Huhhuhhuh?"

"A punch in the face if you don't stop jumping around like the idiot you are."

"But you can't even see m – Teme! I'm not an idiot." And with that he promptly tripped over his own feet.

"Hn. Dobe."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura decided to enter the conversation again. "What do you mean, 'does it matter'? It does!"

From his position on the ground, Naruto watched Sasuke turn to face Sakura, an ingrained habit despite the fact that this did not help him see her any better.

"You can't change the past," he said, his cold tone softening slightly for Sakura. She didn't take to his 'I-will-rip-out-your-heart-through-your-throat' voice as well as Naruto did.

"But Naruto's birthdays have been _miserable_. Some even because of you!" Sakura got that glint in her eye as Naruto started to clamber to his feet, the one that made him want to go for the table again. Thankfully, it was directed at Sasuke this time and even though he couldn't see it, the Uchiha had to have heard it in her voice. "You owe him."

Sasuke shrugged, taking Naruto's place at the table and stirring around his half-eaten ramen before calmly starting to finish it off. "I don't recall ever being particularly happy on Naruto's birthdays either, Sakura," he said after chewing the requisite twenty-six times.

"It's not the same!"

The dark-haired ninja winced as her voice rose an octave. The loss of his eyesight had resulted in the increase of his other senses, especially with the type of training he'd been putting himself through. Sakura had a rather piercing voice at times that didn't help Sasuke's morning headache.

Naruto was gaping, horrified at his best friend – or more specifically, at his best friend eating his ramen.

"Sasuke!" he moaned.

He received a raised eyebrow, but no apology. The bastard sure as hell didn't stop eating his ramen.

Sakura pushed her own ramen in Naruto's general direction, enabling the man to scrape himself off the floor. She rolled her eyes and stretched a little as Naruto leapt at the ramen and proceeded to inhale it. Sasuke continued to eat at a statelier pace, his elbow occasionally digging into Naruto's side for fun.

"Well, I'm going to start getting things ready," she announced.

Naruto blinked those big baby blues at her, a noodle trailing out of the corner of his mouth. "Fwow whawd?"

"For what," Sasuke translated without abandoning his stolen meal. He then proceeded to answer for Sakura. "Your party, dobe."

Naruto nearly choked in his hurry to swallow. "Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that! Kinda stupid, seeing as I was looking forward to it so much."

"Everything you do is 'kinda stupid'," Sasuke remarked.

Next thing Sakura knew, ramen was everywhere and so were Sasuke and Naruto.

"Idiots!" she shrieked. "I just paid the cleaning lady! If you get blood on our carpet, I'll _kill_ you!"

The innocent bystander would have thought they ignored her, but once they had finished cowering behind the furniture, they would have taken careful note of the fact that while Naruto had a cut eyebrow and Sasuke a burst lip, there was indeed no blood on the carpet.

xXx

The festivities were over, the drunk people had been herded out the door and the comatose ones tossed on couches and futons and covered with blankets. In spite of their faults, no one had ever accused the three jounin of being bad hosts.

The next day, despite the hangovers people everywhere would agree that it had been the best party in decades, but for now the Village was quiet and the three hosts lay on the roof of their shared house, soaking up the silence.

Of course, with Naruto around silence never lasted for long, but for once he wasn't ostentatious when he broke it this time. Instead, he released a happy sigh and settled back on his arms.

"It's all coming together, isn't it?"

He felt rather than saw Sasuke's raised eyebrow and grinned.

"What do you mean Naruto?" Sakura asked sleepily as she snuggled into his side. The kunoichi was usually better at holding her alcohol than the two boys, but this night she'd drank them under the table and that always made her tired.

"Well, we're together." He moved his arms, one going around her shoulder and the other making some all-encompassing gesture. "And, well…everything's…everything's good."

"It won't stay that way," Sasuke said quietly. "Akatsuki's still out there, and even without the bijuu—"

He fell silent as Naruto's free hand hit him in the chest. He could have objected violently, of course, but even Sasuke didn't want to spoil the mood _that_ badly.

Naruto left his hand on the other man's chest, enjoying the feel of the beating heart beneath.

"I've never…felt this way before, y'know?" he started again, making another go at trying to articulate his feeling.

"Mmm," Sakura agreed softly, curling up a little tighter.

Sasuke was silent for a bit as Naruto shifted his head to look at him expectantly.

"I know what you mean."

"You do?"

Sasuke turned his unseeing eyes to the sky. "Yeah."

This time the silence was long and it almost seemed as if the conversation was over – Sakura certainly thought so, if her light snores were anything to go by. But Naruto knew better. Sasuke was just searching for the right way to put his feelings into words.

"It's been bad before," the Uchiha said quietly. "And it will be bad again. But now…" He turned back to Naruto and a tiny smile crossed his lips. "Now's good."

Naruto's answering grin was like the sun rising at midnight, and he traced it on Sasuke's chest because he knew his best friend couldn't see it.

"Yeah."

It was his turn to look up at the sky, stretching endlessly above them.

"Now's good."

xXx

_I think that was probably a really cheesy place to end it. But Like it. I like the way I did their relationship here especially, something infinitely close. I have no idea if this is a threesome or not. Take it as you will, I guess. It's just the way I can see their relationship growing._


End file.
